Employee Psychology – A secret to enhancing employee engagement

Simply put, the more engaged employees are, the higher their productivity. An engaged team is a base for a successful company, but no or minimal attention is given to engagement. This is why 85% of employees are not engaged in a company.

Employee psychology is vital in checking their behavior and getting them more engaged. As per the Korn Ferry Survey, 33% of employees leave their job because of boredom. So, employee psychology is something that you should really focus on.

Employee psychology emphasizes why employees behave as they are when doing their job. This includes some predictable patterns.

The management can deal with individual workers and the full team by assessing the patterns. Knowing employee psychology is important for companies as it offers insight into their best asset (employees). This helps the leaders to manage employees of different personalities.

According to Gallup, organizations with an engaged workforce are 21% more profit-making. And as per Oak.com, the cost of an unengaged team is around 18% of their yearly salary.

So it is clear that employee engagement is important for the growth of businesses, and leaders should know the different psychological drives which impact engagement. Take a look at some:

Table of Contents

1. Introduction
2. Understanding Employee Psychology
3. The Impact of Employee Engagement
4. Key Drivers of Employee Engagement
5. Conclusion

Employee engagement drivers

Several ways help to draft a good employee engagement program. Some companies perform an employee engagement survey to collect feedback from their teams. Some perform discussions with employees to assess the employee-manager relationship and judge how the employees see their leaders. Some companies prompt employees to leave feedback, and they are further studied to know the employee engagement levels and job satisfaction. Using the data, the management arranges to coach the employees and leaders to bolster an employee engagement program and boost engagement.

Regarding employee psychology, there are several robust psychological drives for high employee engagement. Some of them are given below:

1. Accomplishment of employees

Employees must make consistent progress with their work to remain engaged. It offers them enjoyment and boosts their self-worth.

A good way for employees to upskill and consistently grow in their careers is by going for mentoring or coaching. It helps them lean into strengths and sharpen their skill sets. Employees using their strengths daily have six times more chances to be engaged and 8% more productivity.

Coaching motivates employees and encourages them to chase their next achievement. It helps them with the following techniques:

• Set achievable goals
• Choose the right tools
• Set realistic deadlines
• Train them to embrace failure

2. Responsibility and autonomy

Unsurprisingly, employees who work autonomously are more engaged. The psychology behind it is connected to accomplishment. That’s because everyone wants to be influential and a driver of projects.

According to the self-determination theory of Richard Ryan and Edward Deci, people are inspired by curiosity and interest in an assignment. Hence, the theory supports the principle of responsibility and autonomy and the idea of controlling human lives over their work. It is connected to job satisfaction and positive well-being.

3. Workspace relationships

Peer relationship is a major employee engagement psychological driver not merely in a collaborative way but also a sense of belonging.

An employee spends a major part of their day with colleagues in their office. Thus, their influence leads to important things like job productivity, satisfaction, and results.

Psychologists recognize psychological safety as a major specification of a workspace environment. It is the belief that the employee will not be punished for sharing their ideas, concerns, and blunders.

Coaching empowers employees with openness. They know they can ask for support, gain and receive feedback, and share information. It helps the workforce get better engaged in their duties and provide 100%.

4. Appreciation and recognition are important

According to Great Place to Work, the most significant driver of good work is recognition and appreciation. Companies use annual performance assessments to appreciate staff members. But, going for real-time recognition is a good approach.

Coaching helps leaders and managers learn how to efficiently recognize employees to motivate them for better work and boost their engagement:

• Personalize the recognition
• Publicly appreciate workers
• Be sincere with your efforts

Employee engagement is a consistent process. And psychological drivers promote employee engagement to a great extent. With uExcelerate’s coaching offerings, you can make your approach more robust and employee-centric. We have a diverse pool coaches and phycologists who have done through research on employee engagement and can help foster engagement   Choose the right program for your company and promote employee engagement in a better way!

Get in touch with us at info@uexcelerate.com to find out more.